Casa de las Olas is not just the only property in Mexico with a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) review, it’s also the only one with a Platinum rating LEED review. The internationally recognised organisation certifies sustainable buildings such as Olas, which was built in the 1970s by Austrian engineer Carlo Shuber. The design was already ahead of its time, but current owner Jimmy Greenfield also retro-fitted solar panels and has taken the time to get things right here, down to the hand-sorted trash (stored for the recycling truck, which only comes once a month in Tulum) and the so-natural-they’re-almost-edible toiletries.

Olas Tulum, Mexico hotel review

Designed to resemble an African village, Zuri Zanzibar is built around nature rather than through it. Each of the property’s thatched-roof villas balances on stilts above native plants and beachy grasses and under shady umbrellas of ancient baobab trees. Recently recognised as the world’s first hotel to be awarded EarthCheck’s Sustainable Design Gold Certification, the complex’s other standout features include organic toiletries, an energy-efficient Evening Breeze air-conditioning system and a magically fragrant spice garden.

Zuri Zanzibar hotel review

The ambitious goal of the not-yet-constructed space-age Svart hotel in the frosty Arctic Circle is to generate more energy than it uses over the course of its lifetime. This means that everything from raw materials used during the building process to the ins and outs of daily operation – and even its eventual demolition – is being considered from the outset.

This pioneering private island, packed with forests and encircled by bright-green tides, is powered entirely by a solar installation feeding Tesla battery packs – one of the largest off-grid energy systems in the South Pacific. Also, you won’t find plastic in this paradise: the resort uses a state-of-the-art, in-house reverse-osmosis plant and water refinery to alchemise rainwater into drinking water for reusable bottles.

It’s not as if you need another reason to visit this ethereal escape long favoured by earth-minded and privacy-seeking notable sorts such as the Obamas, but The Brando just might be in possession of the world’s most innovative and low-impact air-con facility. Using icy deep-sea ocean water sourced 3,000ft below the sun-dabbled Tahitian shallows, The Brando’s seawater air-conditioning system (SWAC) reduces energy demands by more than 80 per cent.

In the shadow of the steely Manhattan skyline, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge trades shine and metal for reclaimed woods and living plant walls. This 100 per cent wind-powered property comes fully charged with an in-house Tesla for complimentary spins around the block, as well as a water-reclamation system, which collects rainwater to keep the neighbouring Brooklyn Bridge Park green during New York’s sweltering summer months.

Sky-high in the Ecuadorian Choco-Andean cloud forest, the glass-walled Mashpi Lodge is constantly adding to its conservation efforts. In addition to already being largely free of single-use plastics and employing an expert team of naturalists, the lodge has newly introduced plans to officially expand the surrounding Mashpi Reserve by some 2,500 hectares to widen the scope of scientific research on the biosphere’s diverse wealth of plants and wildlife, including 500 species of bird.